Moving on from that, I started to look on the Kennel Club site for recent litters and also on Champ Dogs and at some of my local breeders. I was also looking on Pets 4 Homes… which I know is a bit of a controversial site, but for me it paid off. 

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One day around lunch time I was checking again for any new adverts and I saw an advert that went up with one puppy left, he was 9 weeks old, KC registered, parents health tested, from a registered breeder in Wales who after a quick google search was also registered on Champ Dogs. I rang ASAP. Literally 2 minutes after the advert went up. 

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The couple who were due to have the pup had pulled out as they had been made redundant from their jobs due to Corona (this was pre the government furlough scheme coming out). Obviously I couldn’t go down to Wales to visit, so I asked if the breeder could put me on FaceTime so I could see the puppy and his mum. He complied no problem, was happy to do it and show me the puppy and the mum, they were both inside in a nice looking family home and obviously well looked after. The breeder was happy to answer any and all the questions I had and showed me documentation about the health checks and also proof of vaccinations and microchip. I also got heavily questioned about my situation, the size of my house, garden, work situation etc which I showed him on the same FaceTime call to show I wasn’t lying. 

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Long story short, that 9 week old bundle of fluff was Cooper, and the next day the breeder drove him down to me from Wales. 

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I was very tentative about sending the money through to him prior to him delivering as I didn’t want to be another scam victim. Fortunately it didn’t take much on google to find his address on Champ Dogs and information confirming that he was a ‘legit’ breeder and I already knew the puppy did exist, he’d also sent me through the information to register with Royal Canin for a free puppy pack with his breeder number and information about how to register the puppy for the 5 week free insurance with the Kennel Club, it was at that point that I took the gamble and paid the money. I figured if it was a scam I’d just have a long drive down to Wales after lockdown to get my money back! 

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Fortunately it wasn’t a scam, and as promised the next day I got Cooper. Socially distanced of course! 

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I know the people who were giving me abuse on Facebook would probably have plenty to comment on if they knew how I got Cooper, but you know what, he’s the happiest most chilled out little pup, the vet gave him a clean bill of health and I don’t regret it in the slightest! 

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I paid £1200 for him and another £200 for the breeder to deliver him to me (A 500+ mile round journey for him), so essentially £1400 in total. I did my research into the prices of pups and was expecting to pay around the £1200-£1800 mark. I’m quite a stubborn person and was not prepared to pay the inflated prices that some breeders were charging where they were taking advantage of the demand of lockdown. I’m very much a ‘if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, and if it’s not, then it’s not,’ person if I hadn’t found a pup during lockdown I would have waited it out and gone back to my original plan of taking some time off work later in the year!